The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growth due to improvements in the integration density of a variety of electronic components (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.). For the most part, this improvement in integration density has come from shrinking the semiconductor process node (e.g., shrink the process node towards the 7 nm node). As semiconductor devices are scaled down, new techniques are needed to maintain the electronic components' performance from one generation to the next. Device complexity is increasing as manufacturers design smaller feature sizes and more functionality into integrated circuits. Such complex devices may result in more lithography steps.
As semiconductor technologies evolve, increasingly advanced lithography techniques have been widely adopted for use in today's integrated circuit fabrication processes. Photolithographic techniques involve forming a photoresist layer over a substrate, exposing portions of the photoresist material to a pattern of light in accordance with a desired pattern, developing the photoresist material to remove portions of the photoresist material to expose portions of the underlying material. A suitable etching process such as dry etching, wet etching and the like may then be performed on the substrate. As a result, the exposed underlying material may be removed to produce the desired pattern.
The lithography process of the integrated circuit may comprise multiple steps in the photolithography process. Due to the complexity of the manufacturing process, each lithography step may employ a reticle through which the pattern of a component of an integrated circuit is generated. As a result, there is a need for transporting the reticle in the factory.
Although numerous improvements to the methods of transporting reticles have been invented, they have not been entirely satisfactory in all respects. Consequently, it would be desirable to provide a solution to improve the transportation system so as to mitigate or avoid the production of excess scrap wafer due to improper storage conditions for the reticle during its transportation.